Lucy O'Doherty: Suburban Rituals

Overview

Artist Lucy O'Doherty remembers doing what many of us did as kids: making a whole world come to life with little more than dolls and doll houses. Now, she paints images of domestic scenes — and if both pastimes sound quite similar, that's because they're supposed to.

Suburban Rituals mades the parallels plain, one alluring, colourful, stylised image of ordinary living at a time. Each picture provides a portrait of a yard, and usually a house, as well as glimpses of unique lives played out in relatable scenes. Peek into any garden and you'll find a path, lawnmower, pool, spa or combination of the above, for example. Peer into any window and you'll spy a bed and a television too.

If O'Doherty's pieces indulge her own need to create new worlds, then the exhibition satisfies everyone's cravings to look into them. Suburban Rituals graces the walls of the Edwina Corlette Gallery from November 29 until December 17.

Image: By the Light of the TV, Lucy O'Doherty, 2016, oil on linen.